February 4th was the filing deadline to be a candidate in Columbus’ mayoral election. It appears that voters will likely have four candidates to choose from in a May primary.

The Franklin County Board of Elections says 3 Democrats and one Republican have submitted paperwork to run for mayor of Columbus. The candidates are Republican Terry Boyd and Democrats Andrew Ginther, James Ragland and Zachary Scott.

Signatures on petitions turned in by the deadline still have to be certified.

The four will then appear on the primary ballot in May.

The election is non-partisan. The two highest vote getters will appear on the November mayoral ballot.

A central Ohio sheriff has lost his bid to get on the primary ballot as a candidate for a county Democratic Party post.

A panel of 10th District Court of Appeals judges – by a 2-1 vote – upheld a Franklin County Board of Elections ruling that Sheriff Zach Scott didn’t have the five valid signatures he needed on his candidate petition to run for a state central committee post. The election is May 6.

The elections-board staff said the signature of one woman was written in cursive and did not match her printed signature on file with the board. The woman testified that she had signed the petition, but the board rejected it.

]]>A pilot is recovering this morning at Riverside Hospital after his twin-engine plane crashed overnight as it approached Don Scott airport on the city’s northwest side. WOSU’s Tom Borgerding reports.

——–

Ohio Highway Patrol trooper Matt Himes says 45 year old Duane Revennaugh of Georgia lost power in both engines as he neared the end of his flight from Indiana to Columbus. Revennaugh crashed his plane into near Godown road. Trooper Himes says he was able to talk to Revennaugh at the hospital.

“He had stated to me that he didn’t have any engine trouble the entire flight except just moments prior to landing at OSU, the engines began to surge.”

Himes says skies were clear at the time of the crash shortly before midnight. Revennaugh is reported in good condition at Riverside Hospital with head injuries. Today, investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration will arrive in Columbus in a bid to find out why the engines stalled.

]]>Ohio plans to build a sound barrier made out of soil and plants in the state’s first eco-friendly attempt at muffling highway noise. State transportation department spokesman Scott Varner says the wall will be about 12-feet high:

As you know noise walls are one of the tools that ODOT uses to mitigate the sound that comes off of highways. Most people know noise walls as the concrete or brick walls that we put along the highways. And that’s really the only option we have right now. This fall ODOT wants to try an experiment, a research project in which we will construct a “green” wall that is made more of dirt and plants.

Q: And you say it’s like a Chia Pet?

A: How this wall will be constructed, you’ll have an inside base that’s made up of sand and gravel. On the outside of that will be biodegradable bags that are filled with soil and other material; on top of that will be sprayed seeds and fertilizer, that’s where the plants will grow from then.

Q: What kind of plants?

A: There will actually be a variety of seeds used across the 400 foot wall giving us a better sense of what types of plants grow best.

Q: Where will the wall be located?

A: This will be along I-70 on the east side of Columbus near the State Route 310 interchange for Pataskala. It will run along the I-70 westbound lane. Again it’s about a 400 foot wall.

Q: Won’t there be cost savings involved with this?

A: That’s what we’re trying to determine. To give you a sense of perspective, right now those concrete and brick sound walls that we build today cost about a million and a half dollars for every mile. We want to see if something like this green wall can be cost effective. But there’s a big difference in how these walls need to be maintained during the year. Typically a concrete wall is erected with very little maintenance needed. A green wall like this is going to require some on-going maintenance. The watering of it. Making sure that whatever grows on it doesn’t grow out of control. So we really will use the two years of study that comes after this wall is constructed to getter a better sense of what are the maintenance needs? How does a green wall like this survive Ohio winters? This really is a research project as part of ODOT’s growing commitment to be a much greener department. All across the state we’ve put in a number of initiatives to try to be more environmentally conscious. Whether it be green noise walls, looking at reducing the amount of herbicides we use, to using solar and wind energy at some of our rest areas. It’s part of an effort by ODOT to be a more green department.

Scott Varner, chief spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/07/19/odot-proposes-eco-friendly-highway-noise-barrier/feed/0barrier,noise,odot,scott,varnerOhio plans to build a sound barrier made out of soil and plants in the state's first eco-friendly attempt at muffling highway noise. State transportation department spokesman Scott Varner says the wall will be about 12 feet high.Ohio plans to build a sound barrier made out of soil and plants in the state's first eco-friendly attempt at muffling highway noise. State transportation department spokesman Scott Varner says the wall will be about 12 feet high.WOSU Newsno2:51Most Ohioans Now Eligible to Receive Swine Flu Shotshttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2009/12/13/most-ohioans-now-eligible-to-receive-swine-flu-shots/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2009/12/13/most-ohioans-now-eligible-to-receive-swine-flu-shots/#commentsSun, 13 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0000Sam Hendrenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2009/12/13/most-ohioans-now-eligible-to-receive-swine-flu-shots/The Ohio Department of Health has lifted restrictions on who can receive the H1N1 vaccine. Previously the vaccine was limited to high risk groups including children, pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions.

]]>The Ohio Department of Health has lifted restrictions on who can receive the H1N1 vaccine. Previously the vaccine was limited to high risk groups including children, pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions. But attendance at vaccination clinics has been dropping. It was a slim crowd that turned out for a swine flu vaccination clinic on Refugee Road in Columbus late last week. Danielle and Ronnie Kaylor had tried earlier in the season to get their toddler Devon vaccinated. “We went up to a clinic in Hilliard but it was like a three-hour wait,” says Danielle Kaylor. “Are you surprised that there are not more people here?” “I sort of am, yeah. I figured it would be busier than what it is,” Kaylor says. The sparse turnout was a big change from previous clinics where lines have stretched out the door and the wait has been several hours long.

Kylie Scott remembers the first clinic she visited with her two-year-old son Teagan “It was the 28th of October at the Ohio Historical Society and we waited about 4 hours,” Scott says. Scott brought Teagan for a second dose of the vaccine, the procedure that’s recommended for children under ten years of age. “He has had the first dose and just needs the second dose. At his age group it’s high risk if he does get the flu so we want to try to prevent that if at all possible,” Scott says. Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began funneling H1N1 vaccine to Ohio, more than 2.5 million doses have been distributed statewide. Until now, the vaccine has been restricted to people in high risk groups. But the Ohio Department of Health says the vaccine will soon be available to anyone who wants it.

“In looking at the supply, in consulting with public health officials in other states we made the decision that this was a good time to open up the vaccine to anybody who’s interested in getting it,” says Kristopher Weiss.

Weiss is the state health department spokesman.

“What we’re hearing from our local health departments is that the clinics are not as full as they were,” Weiss says. “That’s part of the reason we want to try and open it up. We do understand that there are some people who just won’t seek out the vaccine.” According to the Columbus Health Department, there are a half-million people in the high risk category living in Franklin County. But as of the end of November only 140,000 had been vaccinated against Swine Flu. The number of people in Franklin County who’ve become ill with H1N1 is unknown says Columbus Public Health Commissioner Doctor Teresa Long. She does have figures on the number of people who’ve been admitted to hospitals with flu-like illnesses. “And that number is almost exactly 450 persons have been hospitalized,” Long says. “As far as the absolute diagnosis of H1N1 of influenza-like illnesses, it’s a smaller number; about 260 persons. And while we do know there have been deaths of adults, the only reportable condition has to do with pediatric deaths. And of those there have been 2.”

Swine flu first came to the world’s attention this spring with news of the outbreak and deaths in Mexico. In the weeks that followed, the CDC ordered mass production of H1N1 vaccine swine flu acquired the title pandemic; there were daily briefings from health officials; businesses began preparing for widespread employee illnesses. But has the disease been as serious as was predicted early on? Columbus Health Commissioner Teresa Long says officials acted on the information that they had. “You only get one chance in a pandemic to get it right so you have to come on strong and then back off and moderate as what makes sense with what you experience,” Long says. Predicting the course of the disease is made more complicated, say health officials, because influenza comes in waves. Last week the state health department downgraded swine flu activity in Ohio from “widespread” to “regional.” But officials say another widespread outbreak could be just around the corner. “History can also tell us that in the various subsequent waves often the severity of illness has increased so another reason to think about getting that vaccine now,” says Long. “But the important news is that so far the severity of illness is serious, but it hasn’t had that very, very high level of mortality that we were concerned about, whether the history of the pandemic of 1917/1918 or what we first thought was going on in Mexico.” Vaccinations at public health clinics will continue to be free of charge; the federal government is paying for the production of H1N1 vaccine and is not passing along the cost to the states. Providers such as drug stores and doctors offices are allowed to charge a small fee for administering the vaccine. The state health department has spent $1.5 million fighting the disease – the majority of that in personnel expenses. Meanwhile, health officials continue to urge all Ohioans to get vaccinated. The state health department’s Kristopher Weiss “This is not a time to be complacent, this is a time to seek out vaccine if you can find it and get it. The flu season in Ohio typically runs through mid-March; we’re here in mid-December. So I think that prevention steps remain very important,” Weiss says.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2009/12/13/most-ohioans-now-eligible-to-receive-swine-flu-shots/feed/0columbus,flu,h1n1,long,refugee,road,scott,swine,teresa,vaccine,weissThe Ohio Department of Health has lifted restrictions on who can receive the H1N1 vaccine. Previously the vaccine was limited to high risk groups including children, pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions.The Ohio Department of Health has lifted restrictions on who can receive the H1N1 vaccine. Previously the vaccine was limited to high risk groups including children, pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions.WOSU Newsno4:592008 Columbus Marathon October 19thhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/10/17/2008-columbus-marathon-october-19th/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/10/17/2008-columbus-marathon-october-19th/#commentsFri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000Elizabeth Akinkuoliehttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/10/17/2008-columbus-marathon-october-19th/The 2008 Columbus Marathon is scheduled to take place this weekend. According to Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon preparations are underway.

]]>The 2008 Columbus Marathon is scheduled to take place this weekend. According to Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon preparations are underway.

The 2008 Columbus Marathon is two days away with a Health and Fitness Expo held today at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The Marathon is scheduled to start Sunday. Runners and walkers will be on a course that includes Bexley, German Village, Upper Arlington, and will conclude at Nationwide Arena.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/10/17/2008-columbus-marathon-october-19th/feed/0columbus,scott,weaverThe 2008 Columbus Marathon is scheduled to take place this weekend. According to Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon preparations are underway.The 2008 Columbus Marathon is scheduled to take place this weekend. According to Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon preparations are underway.WOSU Newsno47’08 Columbus Arts Festival Underwayhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/06/06/08-columbus-arts-festival-underway/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/06/06/08-columbus-arts-festival-underway/#commentsFri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000Sam Hendrenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/06/06/08-columbus-arts-festival-underway/

The 47th annual Columbus Arts Festival opens today for a three-day run. The festival is filled with music and poetry. Several hundred artists will display their work in wood, glass, precious metals, tile and pottery, fabrics, painting and photography.

The 47th annual Columbus Arts Festival opens today for a three-day run. The festival is filled with music and poetry. Several hundred artists will display their work in wood, glass, precious metals, tile and pottery, fabrics, painting and photography.

Columbus’s Discovery District was chaotic Thursday morning. Workers were transforming the areas bounded by Cleveland and Washington Avenues and Gay and Long Streets into a virtual tent city for the annual Columbus Arts Festival. With time running out, volunteer Sue Carter Moore was trying to clear a path up Gay Street for arriving artists.

“We’re moving as fast as we can we only have five tents left “

“Then you talk to the artists when they can’t get through,” said Moore.

Moore managed to keep her cool in Thursday’s soaring heat and humidity.

“Columbus Arts Festival 2008 in the discovery district. Katie Lucas, director, doing a damn fine job of moving this arts festival from the riverfront to the discovery district. People have no idea of the logistics. It’s like building a little city from scratch,” Moore says.

The Festival, now in its fourth decade, draws artists from all over the country. Patty Bolz, a designer goldsmith, drove 16 hours to Columbus from Camden, Maine.

“I work in high carat gold mostly and some one of a kind pieces and some production pieces and do shows kind of all over the country,” Bolz said.

Digital artist Scott Wheeler from Butte, Mont., does a lot of traveling too.

“What’s involved in coming to a festival like this?”

“You jury on line with this application which means you have your photographs on line for the jury to see. And then you pay a non-refundable jury fee just to apply to find out if you were accepted.

“And for me that meant driving almost 2,000 miles away, two time zones. And I actually tried to schedule a trip I did one in Estes Park, Colo. On the way back I do one in Minneapolis. But it’s difficult because all these shows are juried. There’s a show on the way in Kansas City that I hoped to get in but I wasn’t accepted. So it’s kind of hard especially since it’s so far away like this.

Artist Karin Connelly’s booth is all about spring. She’s a digital artist who photographs blossoming flowers and trees. Her piece titled Dreamland was photographed in the Texas hill country.

“It started out as a traditional color photograph,” Connelly says. “I converted it to black and white and then colored and enhanced it and made it more dreamlike. It’s called Dreamland – to give it a more ethereal feel rather than just a solid look. I used to shoot just straight photography but I’m kind of going a different way now. I love all the new technology out there, it’s amazing. So I try to use it.”

Pennsylvanian Bill Secunda uses old fashioned rust to transform his larger than life size wild animals – including two bears and a moose into beautiful works of art.

“I have a bear that’s ten foot tall made of over 60,000 welded nails and after I weld all the nails on I use an acid mixture and then let it sit out in the rain for a few days and it gets a beautiful rusted patina.”

“Then I have a creature called Daisy. He’s kind of an abominable snowman type creature in rusted metal. If you look at him he has a flower in his hand. You kind of feel sorry for the ugly guy.

270 artists will have their works on display. They were selected from 1200 applicants.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/06/06/08-columbus-arts-festival-underway/feed/0arts,bolz,columbus,festival,katie,lucas,scott,wheelerThe 47th annual Columbus Arts Festival opens today for a three-day run. The festival is filled with music and poetry. Several hundred artists will display their work in wood, glass, precious metals, tile and pottery, fabrics, painting and photography.The 47th annual Columbus Arts Festival opens today for a three-day run. The festival is filled with music and poetry. Several hundred artists will display their work in wood, glass, precious metals, tile and pottery, fabrics, painting and photography.WOSU Newsno4:08Columbus Officials Say Downtown Housing Growth is Boominghttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/11/30/columbus-officials-say-downtown-housing-growth-is-booming/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/11/30/columbus-officials-say-downtown-housing-growth-is-booming/#commentsThu, 30 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000Sam Hendrenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/11/30/columbus-officials-say-downtown-housing-growth-is-booming/It's been four years since the City of Columbus launched its downtown business plan. One of the goals is to encourage creation of 10,000 housing units by 2012. And according to city officials new housing is well underway.

]]>It’s been four years since the City of Columbus launched its downtown business plan. One of the goals is to encourage creation of 10,000 housing units by 2012. And according to city officials new housing is well underway.

There were only a few customers at Cafe Brioso on Gay Street Wednesday night. Scott Vogel sat outside drinking green tea with a friend. Both young men lamented the lack of local night life.

“It’s unfortunate,” Vogel says, “that Columbus as a city shuts down around 7 o’clock.”

But inside, Barista Alana Odenweller says the cafe may extend its hours in the future.

“We stay open until 7,” Odenweller says. “Once the neighborhood gets more established and more people are down here, we’ll probably accommodate them and stay open later.”

It may not seem like it now but Caf Brioso may play a part in the development of downtown Columbus as a residential area. In 2002 the city launched its downtown housing initiative, calling for 10,000 housing units to be built by 2012. And it began offering tax incentives to developers who build within the business district — the area bounded on the north by I-670, on the east and south by Interstates 71 and 70 and on the west by COSI.

“We’ve been incentivizing development in the suburbs for decades. And there’s never been a comparable sort of incentive provided for downtown housing.”Cleve Ricksecker, the director of Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District, says it’s more cost effective for the city to encourage urban housing because utilities, roads and schools are already in place. He says the city’s investment is paying off.

“Once you began to level the playing field between downtown and the suburban fringe the demand just went through the roof. I think we have 17 residential developers in downtown now.”

About 1500 people have moved downtown since the plan went into effect, according to Ricksecker. He says that in the central business district about 700 units have already been completed and about 500 are under construction. Add the Short North and other areas and the number of condominiums and lofts approaches 4,000. Ricksecker says that’s not enough to meet potential demand.

“In any metropolitan area, 1% to 2% of the population would love to live downtown if there were housing product for them to live in. And in the metropolitan Columbus area that’s 13,000 to 26,000 people who would move downtown in a heartbeat.”

“One of those people who’s already moved downtown is Golden Mergler. She’s an OSU professor who, with her husband, moved away from their Clintonville home after 20 years.

“It has been lots of fun. We love it! A lot of my friends that still live in houses in other parts of the city say I don’t know how you did it.’ But it really wasn’t difficult. I loved living in Clintonville and I loved my home there but I don’t miss it, I really like where I’m living now.”

Making downtown Columbus more livable may spur downtown job creation – ensuring that more people will be paying city income tax. One complicating factor is the softening real estate market. Cleve Ricksecker says the pent-up demand for downtown housing makes a forecast difficult.

“Even if the housing market softens and interest rates go up we think that demand for downtown housing will remain. It may shift a bit from purchasing to renting – typical when interest rates go up – but there’s still a big, big unmet demand.”

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/11/30/columbus-officials-say-downtown-housing-growth-is-booming/feed/0Ohioans Mourn Coretta Scott Kinghttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/01/31/ohioans-mourn-coretta-scott-king/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/01/31/ohioans-mourn-coretta-scott-king/#commentsTue, 31 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000WOSU News Staffhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/01/31/ohioans-mourn-coretta-scott-king/Ohioans who knew her or just admired her are mourning the death of Coretta Scott King.

]]>Ohioans who knew her or just admired her are mourning the death of Coretta Scott King.

In Columbus, the director of the King Arts Complex says King was a quiet, determined civil rights leader. Barbara Nicholson tells WOSU-AM, “Coretta was a quiet, gentle voice with dignity, a gentle reminder of what she and Dr. King stood for.”

Cincinnati’s Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth says she was a woman of great strength whose “concrete” manner of speaking helped the world understand the civil rights movement and helped to define her husband. Shuttlesworth marched with both Kings during the civil rights struggle in the 1960s.

Coretta Scott King was a graduate of Antioch College in Yellow Springs and returned to Ohio many times.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/01/31/ohioans-mourn-coretta-scott-king/feed/0Columbus Remembers Coretta Scott Kinghttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/01/31/columbus-remembers-coretta-scott-king/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/01/31/columbus-remembers-coretta-scott-king/#commentsTue, 31 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000Sam Hendrenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/01/31/columbus-remembers-coretta-scott-king/Columbus is remembering Coretta Scott King. The widow of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Junior died early this morning. She was 78. The Alabama Native and graduate of Ohio's Antioch College will be remembered for her quiet, impassioned allegiance to the cause of human rights.

]]>Columbus is remembering Coretta Scott King. The widow of civil rights leader Doctor Martin Luther King Junior died early this morning. She was 78. The Alabama Native and graduate of Ohio’s Antioch College will be remembered in for her quiet, impassioned allegiance to the cause of human rights. WOSU’s Sam Hendren reports

In an undated photograph on exhibit at the Martin Luther King Arts Complex in Columbus, a young civil rights leader and his wife Coretta smile as they watch two of their small children.

“We don’t often think of them as everyday people who just wanted a good life for their children. There with a hoola hoop, two of the children enjoying life,” says the King Center’s executive director Barbara Nicholson.

Nicholson says she met Coretta Scott King on several occasions. She describes her as dignified and graceful, whose appearance and bearing remained much the same throughout her adult life – even during the turbulent times that surrounded her husband’s assassination.

“She always left you with a sense that a very powerful but quiet, graceful person had walked into your life. She had such a dignity to her, says Nicholson.

Mrs. King spoke to an audience at Congregation Tifereth Israel in 2003.

“Let everyone who would be a champion of the fulfillment of Martin Luther King’s dream, become an advocate for the human rights of others, Mrs King said. She continued, “If we can build bridges of knowledge and understanding between peoples of all races and cultural groups, we will sew the seeds of greater unity and prosperity in America. The promotion of diversity opens the doors of opportunity to all groups. When this vision of unity is fulfilled throughout the nation, then the America of our noblest ideals will become a reality.”